This is a blog about a dog...a guide-dog-to-be. For the next 3 years we will follow Jethro through the trials and tribulations of becoming a guide dog for the blind.

Friday, May 22, 2009

We made it through the first week

The first week of raising a guide dog puppy is the hardest. .

You have to go to the vet and get vaccinations and all kinds of things squirmy pup wants nothing to do with.

He's learning a new schedule, hes settling in to a new routine, she eating everything in sight and waking you up at all hours of the night.

When you get over the fact that you have cleaned up six thousand puddles of pee and realised he ate another magazine, you start asking what were you thinking, again! After raising three guide dog puppies you would think we remember this part, but somehow, just like kids, we do it again, and discover it's because they are stinking cute.

Jethro has learned a lot this past week, starting with his name (sort of) and how to sit (when he wants to) and how to lay down (if you have enough treats) and how to "watch" which is the command to give his attention back to you. Granted he does it with a kind of glassy look and really is more following the treat, but hey, he is only 9 weeks old.

He did his first two training walks with my boss, the puppy raising program manager, and he did pretty good. He was only required to walk one block, and he did then promptly sleep all afternoon, and so did I! it is the most exhausting thing to engage this puppy for a whole block, to make sure hes not afraid (of the giant trash can) or the car whizzing by (as he scurries between your feet) or tries to sniff the grass (not in his job description) but at the end of the day, he and I were both better off for the experience.

Thanks to all of you who have asked after him, hes doing OK (and so am I!) More next week, right now we are off to walk in our first rain storm, then a nap.

About Me

Michelle and Mike Dolan have raised 3 guide dogs for Guide Dogs of Texas, and all three teams are working now. Jethro will be the 4th. Stop by their store, Scrapbook 911 and say hi to this newest recruit!